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The Wall Street Jrl here and Washington Post (AP) here are reporting that the FBI has entered state Alaska lawmakers offices and removed items pursuant to a warrant. The newspapers both include a reference to Veco, a "oil-fields-service" company. The commonality between the lawmakers is that they are all Republican.

There is nothing new about having the feds probe something related to the states. One of the rationales often expressed for the federal government investigating state activity is that it is easier for them to be above the local or state politics. Many state and local prosecutors run for office, making it extremely difficult for them to investigate or indict local state persons. Additionally, the feds often have more expertise and more resources to conduct these investigations. Finally, many federal statutes are written generically to allow a wide breadth of conduct, even conduct that may be state related.